]]>http://www.learnfoodphotography.com/holiday-food-preview/Capturing Action Shots: How To Create Drama in Food Photoshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FoodPhotoStyling/~3/FAILnc9n4PY/
Tue, 27 Sep 2016 14:01:42 +0000http://www.learnfoodphotography.com/?p=5959How can you make your food photo more powerful? Create drama. How can you create drama in your next photo? Add motion. How can you add motion? Read this. Madhuri Aggarwal is Food Blogger and an Artist and a Lifestyle Accessory Designer by profession. She design lamps and home accessories and writes about food and cooking at […]

Madhuri Aggarwal is Food Blogger and an Artist and a Lifestyle Accessory Designer by profession. She design lamps and home accessories and writes about food and cooking at MADaboutKitchen… let’s learn how she creates action in her food photos.

About The Photographer

Cooking was always my passion. Cooking, Photographing and Styling are other mediums of expressions for me. Playing with textures, colours, light and shadow is nothing less than art.

Inadvertently, my background as an artist and designer always helps a lot in styling. I always cooked and baked for my family and photographed them just for my reference.

With a push from friends and family, I started my blog MADaboutkitchen a year ago. When I now look back at my photographs a year back I can see how much I have grown as a photographer and as a stylist.

Food Photography Gear

Food Photography Process

It all starts with food and props for me. I have a huge list of ‘to cook’ food that I keep going back to. And sometimes i have props that i want to use and cook dishes that would go well with that prop.

Fresh produce, seasonal produce, regional/local produce are also things that inspire me and get me started.

I am a propoholic, crazy about props, especially vintage props. And I have been lucky to have inherited a lot of cookware and serveware which have a lot of character in them.

I am on a constant look out for vintage props and character wooden pieces and planks. Even my vacations are planned based on how good the vintage and flea markets are in that place. I collect props from anywhere and everywhere.

The food inspires me to style them. I style most of my food in rustic style. It comes very naturally to me. Ideas are always in my head and I always visualise when I start preparing the dish.

Depending on the look I want to give my dish, be it rustic, traditional, clean or bright, I choose my backgrounds and props.

Colour combinations of the dish, props and backgrounds play a major role in choosing them as well. I always try out a few options before finalising. And a lot of times it happens that I start with some idea and it ends up completely different.

First Decisions About the Photograph

This photograph was a prop based shoot. I had this rustic, vintage powder tin box that i found at my grand mum’s place which I had to use nevertheless. The first thing that came to my mind was cookies.

Hence, I went ahead with the small sized Danish Butter Cookies that would fit in the box.
‘Freshly baked cookies, generously dusted with icing sugar, stored in the tin box for her grandkids’ was the feel I wanted to give.

As the box was rustic I wanted to stick to a rustic look. Hence I used dark, textured, character wood to give a vintage look to this whole series of pictures. The other pictures in this post are baked cookies freshly out of the oven on parchment paper, cookies dusted with icing sugar and cookies stored in the box.

Action photographs always bring more life into a picture and hence this picture. I did not have a picture in mind before photographing. I never do. It is just a vague idea that I have that helps me start and it kind of flows from there.

I change the arrangement and shoot, from different angles and finally choose the best looking one.

I mostly go for vertical frame as it looks better in any gadget, as well as in the blog page.

Lighting Setup and Tips

I do not own any light setup and hence all my photographs are shot in natural light. My house is well lit and has light coming in all day from all directions.

As I do not have any artificial lights I have no other option but to play with Natural light and Natural light having its own character, makes it more interesting and beautiful.

I love shooting in diffused as well as harsh light. Natural light keeps changing during the day and every kind of light is beautiful.

This picture was shot in the afternoon at 4pm. As I was going with a rustic look I wanted my pictures to be dark and moody with just the cookies being lit. This picture was shot with a huge window on the left.

So I have diffused the light by covering the whole window with curtains with just a small gap to let in light just on the cookies and the dusting.

I love the play of shadows and hence i never try to diffuse them. I keep my photographs as close to the actual scene as possible.

I always use a tripod and this being an action picture it was important that I use a tripod. Taking this picture was no less than a circus, as I was shooting it alone and I did not have a remote then.

I had set the lens to manual mode and fixed the focus on the cookie. I had to dust it with my right hand and had to click with my left. I did few trials to make sure the focus was right and to make sure my hand was in the right position while dusting.

I then started shooting it continuously while dusting. In hindsight I thought I could have used self timer with multiple clicks instead of clicking and dusting. I sure did get the picture I had imagined but may be I could have done it easily.

Food Styling and Prop Styling

I believe that styling and composition are very personal and that there is nothing wrong or right in styling. I follow my heart when it comes to styling.

As I have mentioned earlier, I was looking for a rustic look. So I have used rustic wooden planks for the background and the base and vintage powder tin box. This particular photograph doesn’t have much of props though.

This photograph is one cookie in focus with icing sugar being dusted on it. Dusting was something that I had planned, but the wave in the dusting was I can say just luck.

While styling, I always keep a few things in the series consistent to keep harmony in the story. For e.g. the background or the props or the lighting. It makes all the photographs in the series belong to the same family.

Post Processing Tips

I use Nikon’s Capture NX-D and Photoshop for post production.

There weren’t many adjustments made to this picture. Only cropping and a slight adjustment in the curves and watermark.

Cropping to get a better composition and frame and adjustments in the curves to make the picture a little darker than what it was. I do the settings mostly in the camera while shooting to achieve the desired result and hence I do not do much of post production.

I use Photoshop for re-sizing the picture and for watermark.

7 Quick Tips for Food Bloggers

Enjoy what you do. Follow your heart.

Know your camera well and just experiment till you find your own style.

‘First you eat with your eyes’ so always make the food look appetising.

Concentrate on the texture of the food.

Style your food and photograph it in a way, that you would want your audience to see it.

Try to tell the story clearly.

Get inspired and learn by joining food photography and styling forums. Pinterest is a great source of inspiration and everyone needs a good inspiration.

]]>http://www.learnfoodphotography.com/how-to-create-drama-in-food-photos/Here it is: 6 Amazing Food Photos from Januaryhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FoodPhotoStyling/~3/Rjasts0uHyM/
http://www.learnfoodphotography.com/amazing-food-photos-dmblgit-jan-2016/#commentsSun, 14 Feb 2016 12:01:06 +0000http://www.learnfoodphotography.com/?p=6332Can you believe January is already gone? And half of February too? That’s right… more than 1/12 of the year already disappeared. How are you doing on your food photography goal? Did you take any action on this goal yet? Just like you, many fellow food photography enthusiasts decided on the goal. The difference is they […]

How are you doing on your food photography goal? Did you take any action on this goal yet? Just like you, many fellow food photography enthusiasts decided on the goal. The difference is they are making progress because they are taking action.

Are you?

In this post, you will meet six of those food photographers – those that took action and made progress.

How We Selected These Six Photos

Every month food photographers from all around the world submit their food photos in this food photography contest. A panel of 4-6 judges select the best of the best food photos and rank them in two different ways:

Category Winners – Photographs are judged in three categories – Edibility, Aesthetics and Originality. For each of these category, we choose photographs who are not overall winners.

Overall Winners – These photographs are the top notch. Winners by looking at all three aspects mentioned above.

Meet the Judges

Starting the last DMBLGiT that LFP hosted in July, we invited our past winners as the new judges. We invited three of them.

Judging is hard. It takes time and it takes effort. Thank you to our judges for giving us time for our mission of taking food photography forward.

Meena Kumar

Meena won August 2015 DMBLGiT contest. Meena blogs at Elephants and the Coconut Trees. Her blog name has to do with the spice capital of India (world?). You can read more about Meena here.

Sreelatha Shenoy and Anup Payyakkil

Dad, Mom (and Sonshine) team where Mom cooks, Dad clicks and Son tastes. They blog at Framed Recipes and won DMBLGiT Nov 2015. Read more about them here. Dad and Mom were both judges for this contest.

Putu Trisna Dewi

Dewi is from the magical land of Bali… Dewi won December 2015 DMBLGiT. She blogs at Puri Widiyadari. You can read more about her here.

Top 6 Food Photos from January

When there are many amazing photographers submitted in a contest it is always tough to judge. This month, that was the case. We tallied all the points and identified the top 3 overall winners – those photographs that were strong in all three categories. Often overall winners were top in the categories as well. You will see the top photographs soon.

Category winners were strong in one (or more) of the three. These were the photographs that scored top points in a category and were either equal or slightly below the overall winning photographs. Let’s look at them one at a time…

Edibility Winner

Edibility, the aspect of food photography that makes us jump in and eat it all… The photograph this Jan that made us eat the whole screen was taken by Anupa Joseph.

Pomogranate Raita by Anupa Joseph

Originality Winner

A photo that captures the subject in a new form? Judges agreed that it is a unique way to plate popcorns… Yes, Caramel popcorns with coffee salt! Photo was taken by Hein van Tonder

Caramel Popcorn with Coffee Salt by Hein van Tonder

Aesthetics Winner

Right use of color makes a strong photograph. So does the design elements and shapes and lines. This January Swayampurna Mishra‘s photograph of Masala Dabba or Box of Spices was chosen aesthetic winner.

Masala Dabba by Swayampurna Mishra

And now the overall winners…

Overall Winner # 3

Dark on dark photographs are hard to make. They are challenging in many different ways. This Miso soup photograph is different, aesthetic pleasing and makes you slurp the whole thing… Congratulations! Sabrina Dietz… slurp… it’s amazing.

Miso Soup Photograph by Sabrina Dietz

Overall Winner #2

Nusrat Suborna captured curried chickpeas on dark tone as well… The curried chickpeas are captured in a new way.. the use of green and the tone is a bit subdued to not overpower the photograph and chickpea becomes the main focal point. It is this direction of eye that makes strong photos.

Overall Winner #1

Podi… or sambar powder is a challenging subject. Where does you eye go in this overall winning photograph? To the yellow powder I bet. That’s what makes this the overall winner #1. Preeti is no stranger to powerful food photographs. Indian Kitchen (or Jo Preet’s Kitchen) has lot of amazing photos.

This photograph, once again a dark on dark, (which as it is apparent is quite popular these days), has all the right elements that make it an appealing photograph. Congratulations Preeti Tamilarasan.

Sambar Powder or Podi by Preeti Tamilarasan

Want Your Photograph in February List?

In February we will publish a February top food photos too. If you want your photograph to be considered, sign up for DMBLGiT Invitation list below –

P.S. The next batch of 30 Days to Better Food Photos course opens in next few weeks. If you are interested in joining the course, sign up here.

]]>http://www.learnfoodphotography.com/amazing-food-photos-dmblgit-jan-2016/feed/1http://www.learnfoodphotography.com/amazing-food-photos-dmblgit-jan-2016/DMBLGiT Jan 2016http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FoodPhotoStyling/~3/l7x81F-mmlA/
Thu, 21 Jan 2016 13:15:57 +0000http://www.learnfoodphotography.com/?p=6315We re-launched DMBLGiT in February 2015… just about an year ago. At least twice a year, LFP hosts DMBLGiT contest to put all our energy in this contest. In these months, we try something different and run secret and sometimes not so secret experiments. This is one of those months. And this month, we are again experimenting with […]

At least twice a year, LFP hosts DMBLGiT contest to put all our energy in this contest. In these months, we try something different and run secret and sometimes not so secret experiments. This is one of those months. And this month, we are again experimenting with something.

What is the experiment? Well, you’ll have to wait to find that out later.

How to Win This – Judging Criteria

Photographs are reviewed by a panel of judges, who score them in three categories: edibility, aesthetics, and originality. The host then compiles the scores to determine the winners. The specific things the judges will be looking for are as follows:

– Aesthetics: composition, food styling, lighting, focus, etc.
– Edibility: “does the photo make us want to dive in and eat the food?”
– Originality: the photograph that catches our attention and makes us want to say “wow!”, displaying something we might not have seen before.
– Overall Winner: top overall scores in all three categories combined.

There are three overall winners for photographs with the highest point totals in all three categories combined, and one winner in each of the three individual categories.

This how we select the winners and you can participate and improve your food photography.

So.. ready to participate? To participate simply email us your best photograph you took in December 2015 using the submission instructions below.

How to Participate – Photo Submission Requirements

Send your photos at an attachment to dmblgit[at]learnfoodphotography[dot]com with Subject “DMBLGiT Jan 2016″

Include this information in your photo submission

Your full name

Your blog name and URL

Title of your photograph

URL to blogpost where submitted photo is posted

Agreement from you agreeing to let us display your photo on host website, learnfoodphotography.com and DMBLGiT contest gallery. We won’t use your photo for any other purpose outside DMBLGiT.

Important: File format needs to be jpeg format and longest size should be no longer than 500 pixels. This means for horizontal or landscape format max 500 px width and for vertical or portrait format max 500 px height.

Photo must not have any text.

General DMBLGiT Contest Rules

Only one entry per person. One photograph. No diptychs.

This photo should be taken and posted in the month of Dec 2015.

This goes without saying but I will say it anyway – you must have taken this photograph and should have copyrights to this photo.

Entries must be received by Jan 29th at midnight C.S.T (Chicago time) using all requirements described in the photo requirements section.

This is it! If you have any questions email me neel@learnfoodphotography.com

Help the contest get the word out. Share this post on social media sites and with your fellow food bloggers.

]]>http://www.learnfoodphotography.com/dmblgit-jan-2016/Fresh of the Oven: Top 10 Food Photography Deals From Around the Webhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FoodPhotoStyling/~3/Ww8_yGZXKMA/
Thu, 26 Nov 2015 18:40:58 +0000http://www.learnfoodphotography.com/?p=6296Ohh!! it’s here. Once again. The Sale season is here. And this time around it’s everything. Food Photography courses. Food Photography Gear. Food Photography Gadgets. Photo Prints and Everything Else. Some have already started! Some start soon! Don’t Miss Them. Black Friday Sale on Amazon: This year Amazon started their Black Friday Sale on Monday […]

The Sale season is here. And this time around it’s everything. Food Photography courses. Food Photography Gear. Food Photography Gadgets. Photo Prints and Everything Else.

Some have already started! Some start soon! Don’t Miss Them.

Black Friday Sale on Amazon:

This year Amazon started their Black Friday Sale on Monday of this Week!! That’s three days too early. Photo gear is on sale and is selling out fast. We found some items that are definitely priced very low. Take a look at our favorite sale items: